MILWAUKEE -- Chad Hedrick has just finished a workout when he spotted his wife and daughter, watching from a room overlooking the speed skating oval at the Pettit National Ice Center.

He breaks into a big smile and begins waving in their direction, like the giddy, first-time father he is.

Meet the new Chad.

Oh, he's still that brash, outgoing Texan with an insatiable desire to beat everyone else on blades. But he has some different priorities now: a family he can't stop gushing over, a spiritual awakening, an acceptance that skating will not last forever.

"I sort of want to be at home, put on a suit and tie and go to work," said Hedrick, who plans to retire after the Vancouver Olympics. "I'm ready to look like a presentable person, not some bum who wears tennis shoes and warmups every day."

That hardly sounds like the guy who switched over from inline and quickly became a world champion, all while challenging the norms of a staid, conservative sport.

He took his unique skating style from wheels to ice. He did not shy away from seemingly outlandish goals such as trying to match Eric Heiden's record of five gold medals. He found it perfectly acceptable to celebrate triumphs with wine, women and song (actually, beer is his drink of choice).

"He trained hard," coach Derek Parra said, "and he played hard."

Hedrick still trains hard, and he will have a beer from time to time, but his life has taken a 180-degree turn.

"I've got a new family now, with a new daughter, and a new relationship with the Lord," he said proudly.

Hedrick has been married nearly two years. Seven months ago, his wife, Lynsey, delivered their first child, a dimply daughter named Hadley. Along the way, he had a religious conversion that he talks about unabashedly

Before the last Olympics, Hedrick was focused mainly on himself. He set himself up to skate five events and did not run from comparisons to Heiden, who won five gold medals at Lake Placid. Once Hedrick got to Italy, a nasty feud developed with fellow American Shani Davis.

Hedrick entered the team pursuit and thought Davis should, too. Davis felt it would hurt his individual races. When the pursuit team failed to earn a medal, their animosity boiled over at a news conference after the 1,500 meters, in which Davis finished second and Hedrick third.

Davis bitterly noted that he was congratulated by Hedrick for his silver medal, but not for the gold he won in the 1,000. Davis stormed out of the room with this enduring dig: "Shakes my hand when I lose. Typical Chad."

All that drama overshadowed the amazing performance of both skaters: Hedrick won a medal of every color, while Davis became the first black athlete to capture an individual gold at the Winter Games.

"The funny thing was, Shani and I got along before the Olympics -- completely," Hedrick said. "A lot of other people on the team had issues with him, but I was one of the few who didn't. It just got totally blown out of proportion."

Both say they have put their animosity aside, which seemed evident at their first head-to-head race of the trials. Davis slapped Hedrick's hand before the 5,000. After Davis won by two-hundredths of a second, Davis veered over with a congratulatory handshake.

After Italy, Davis kept right on winning. Hedrick, 32, celebrated a little too long, then attempted to switch his trademark skating style at the behest of former national team coach Bart Veldkamp.

Instead of pushing off with the skate still under his body, a style Hedrick brought over from inline, Veldkamp wanted him to try the traditional Dutch approach, where most of the force is exerted as the skate slides away from the body.

It just did not work. Hedrick has yet to make the podium at an international race since his Turin triumph.

Hedrick has cut back on his program for Vancouver, focusing on the 1,500, 5,000 and team pursuit. Then, he gladly will call it a career.

But do not think he will be satisfied with losing. He has not changed that much.

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